The time it takes to respond to a natural or man-made disaster can mean the difference between life and death. Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) are usually set up near the disaster zones to enhance the response time to disasters. EOCs are physical worksites that serve to receive data, assess the situation, and decide how to control or end the emergency. EOCs may be found at one or more government levels, for instance on the federal, state, county and local levels.
Impediments to the effectiveness of the EOC can arise based on the skill level of the personnel and the quality of communication systems used by the EOC. Each EOC is run by trained individuals, one such individual being incident managers. However, EOC personnel may also include untrained volunteers. It is critical that EOC tools utilize natural interactions since the training level of EOC personnel can vary drastically from highly experienced to little or no training. For less experienced workers and even highly trained but computer-illiterate individuals, natural forms of interaction can facilitate usability of EOC tools by increasing the tools transparency and speed of learning. By incorporating natural forms of interaction with EOC tools, strong mental modes are evoked in users based on their past experiences with other systems.
Traditionally personnel in EOCs used paper maps to locate disasters and to chart movement. However, paper maps may at times be out of date and difficult to obtain and therefore the traditional paper and pencil mapping methods may prove inadequate to provide rapid responses to rapidly changing conditions inherent in a disaster. The fatalities realized on Sep. 18, 2003 when Hurricane Isabel hit North Carolina clearly highlight the deficiency of using paper maps to track a disaster. Here, EOCs used geographical information systems (GIS) to overlay storm information with digital maps of properties, structures, power utilities and roads. As a result, responders were effectively dispatched to locales that required the most attention. As the storm moved to remote areas, the only land map information available were from paper maps. EOCs were no longer able to track the hurricane. The level of response to these areas was hampered due to the inability to follow the track of the disaster over land. If the level of technology had been better, these remote areas would have been served better by EOCs responders. The need to identify patterns and changes to emergency situations are facilitated by using maps and other spatial information that allows a user to more realistically assess a condition and formulate appropriate responses.
The quick nature of disasters requires state-of-the-art communication devices in order to advise individuals of breaking developments and respond accordingly. The types of technologies employed in EOCs range widely based on size of the emergency and budgets allocated to the centers. Best results, such as a quickly resolved emergency, is achieved when communication between EOCs and responders are efficient. Computer or laptop graphical user interface is an advancement over using paper and pen, however it still lacks ease in use and natural forms of interaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,561 entitled Emergency Management System is an example of a system for automating the gathering of field information that describes the condition of specific geographical locations at specific times via a field information recording device. Such systems are an advance to gathering real-time information. However, the information still needs to be reviewed by emergency personnel and an actionable plan needs to be developed based on the circumstances by such personnel reviewing the data in real time.
Even with the availability of technology rich data systems, there is a need for a low cost, low technology solution for transmitting actionable information pertaining to location and geography from the field to the EOC and vice versa. The solutions should be easy to use especially by computer-illiterate individuals who prefer using paper and pencil. Tools that utilize natural interactions, gracefully degrade, support collaboration and display spatially referenced information is desired in workplaces such as EOCs.
The transmission of information using the low technology solutions must be done quickly and at a low bandwidth. Ideally, disaster information should be conveyed by rapid transmission being either wired or wireless. Suitable non-limiting methods or devices capable of carrying out rapid transmission include email, FTP, cellular service, satellite, WiFi, broadband, narrowband and the like. There is also a need to ensure effective collaboration between EOCs and first responders to ensure all participants are informed with the most accurate and latest actionable information.